Planetary Resources is funded by big-name investors including Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, but the public campaign will allow the company to involve the public more directly. If the Kickstarter project is funded, the company will build and launch a customized version of its Arkyd-100 with an external camera into near-Earth orbit, and anyone will be able to point the telescope to explore space.

Participants will be able to use a special online interface to request a view of anything in the Solar System — an object on Earth, a point in space, etc. From its position in orbit, the Arkyd-100 will have a unique vantage point around the clock.

“For me, it’s really about giving the public a chance to be involved in the next era of exploration, where it’s not just watching NASA do it,” Diamandis said. “This is citizen science at its best.”

If the $1 million funding goal is reached by June 30, Planetary will build the telescope and launch it in early 2015.

“If there’s enough interest, we may end up building two-to-three telescopes,” Diamandis added. “We might have a constellation of space telescopes.”

You may get a kick out of the Kickstarter pledge levels, which are pretty creative. The lower cost pledges offer “Space Selfies,” which allow you to send an image of yourself that Planetary will capture with Earth as the background. Here’s an example of that:

The more expensive pledge levels allow for 30-minute observations with the Arkyd and other add-ons like tours of the company headquarters and access to a curriculum and tutorial developed by the team at Planetary. The highest level, a “Grand Benefactor and Education Ambassador,” runs at $10,000 and lets the donor sponsor Arkyd time for a K-12 school, university or museum, and includes tickets to Planetary events as well as a personal signature on the actual spacecraft.

Diamandis said that there could be a number of benefits from the telescope if it’s funded, both for the public and Planetary Resources. The company wants to build out a community that can potentially help Planetary perform tasks like data analysis and software development.

“We’re just having a blast,” Diamandis said. “I’m very proud of the team for really knocking down barrier after barrier.”

For a visual look at the new campaign, here’s a rather large infographic from Planetary:

Taylor Soper is a GeekWire staff reporter who covers a wide variety of tech assignments, including emerging startups in Seattle and Portland, the sharing economy and the intersection of technology and sports. Follow him @taylor_soper and email taylor@geekwire.com.